


murder on my mind

by fifteen_half



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, Gen, M/M, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-26 04:30:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21368206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fifteen_half/pseuds/fifteen_half
Summary: a marknomin au where,Mark is a mercenary assigned to assassinate a CEO, Jeno is the CEO's personal guard, and Jaemin is the CEO who doesn't seem capable of staying out of trouble.or; a mini fic inspired by elle's markmin/nominprompt!
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Mark Lee/Na Jaemin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 100





	murder on my mind

**Author's Note:**

> for naimi <333

He couldn’t do it.

He just couldn’t do it.

This was supposed to be his last chance. His final trial to be accepted by the Family. His last task to become more than a mere errand boy, a slave.

It was supposed to be easy, they said. Na Jaemin may be the CEO of one of the most prolific tech companies in all of South Korea and he may be heavily guarded, but the normally trained guards should not pose a problem to an assassin bred by the Mangjeol Family right?

Minhyung thought that his life filled with nothing but suffering would finally end. He was right, in a way. Even if it meant he’d be ending his life himself. He’d never had the courage to before, but the thought of having to kill Na Jaemin made him determined.

He’d never known kindness before. Had never known what it truly meant to be part of a family. Had never known the beautiful sides of the world. 

But Jaemin had shown him. And what an absolutely wonderful world it was.

Killing Na Jaemin would mean the end of that part of the world for him. It wasn’t worth it. To be part of a family who never saw him as human wasn’t worth it.

Holed up in a rundown motel, Minhyung stared at his gun. He picked it up and flicked the safety off.

And then the door burst open.

Automatically aiming the gun at the intruder, Minhyung was shocked, then resigned, to see Jaemin’s head of security, Lee Jeno there.

“Have you come to kill me, Jeno?”

“No, hyung,” the younger man replied, “I came here to save you.”

Minhyung couldn’t believe that. Why would Jeno save him when he’d been planning on killing his charge all this time?

“Save me? Do you know what I was sent here to do? Do you have any idea what I’ve been planning behind your back? Because,” he said, shaking his head, “You, of all people, would not let me live if you knew I was planning to kill Jaemin.”

Instead of the anger he was expecting, the rage, the look of betrayal, all Jeno did was smile and shrug, “I’ve actually known for a while now. That our Mark Lee was actually a Lee Minhyung of the Mangjeol Family. A week after your first came, I already knew you were hired to kill that idiot,” he revealed, shocking Minhyung. It’s been months since that time, nearly a year. And yet, for all that time Jeno just… let him?

It was strange, but he found himself angry, frustrated on Jaemin’s behalf. Lee Jeno was Jaemin’s personal guard. If he’d known about Minhyung for that long then, why? Why did he let an assassin get so close to Jaemin? Why did he just allow him to live? If he were in Jeno’s place, and by god did he wish he were in Jeno’s place, he would have immediately dealt with the threat!

“Why didn’t you do anything about it?!” he yelled, dropping his gun on the floor to push a finger onto Jeno’s chest, “I could have killed him, Jeno! Jaemin could be dead right now because of me! I could have killed Jaemin! Why would you…?! You should have killed me the moment you knew!”

Jeno was unfazed though. Instead of defending himself his smile grew wider, as if amused, as he replied, “You’re right, I should’ve. But I really couldn’t.”

That was ridiculous! Jaemin should be protected by someone who could do it right! Jaemin couldn’t get hurt. He hurt with the world too much already. Jeno clearly cared about Jaemin. It was obvious to anyone who saw them how important Jaemin was to Jeno. So why?

His questions must have been apparent in his expression because Jeno quickly answered, “Because Jaemin didn’t want me to.”

Minhyung blinked. Then he frowned, “Jaemin knows. That I was there to kill him? All this time?”

Jeno smiled, “He likes to act silly a lot but Jaemin is actually pretty perceptive.”

“And he just let me stay?!”

“Like I said, I really couldn’t eliminate you.”

Feeling a bit faint, Minhyung sat on the dinghy bed and covered his face with his hands, his entire body heavy with disbelief.

“How low is his sense of self-preservation?” Minhyung asked, looking up at Jeno in worry, “Please don’t tell me he’s been like this ever since.”

Jeno sat down heavily beside him and sighed, “You won’t believe the lengths at which I go to just to keep that idiot alive.”

“I—,” for a moment there, Minhyung wanted to stay, feeling the need to protect Jaemin from evils the younger man can’t recognize for himself.

And he did want to stay. Being with Jaemin made him see the world in the younger’s eyes. And it was always so beautiful.

But if he stayed… Then the Mangjeol would never leave Jaemin alone. Minhyung wasn’t strong enough to protect Jaemin from them. The only thing he could do was to get himself out of the equation. It was the only way he could think of to protect Jaemin.

It wasn’t enough, of course. Like everything Minhyung was. He’d never been enough for anyone.

“Hyung,” Jeno said, bumping his shoulders against Minhyung’s, “Mark hyung, I really am here to save you.”

“How?” he croaked, overwhelmed from being so helpless, “We can’t exactly wipe out the Family.”

Jeno shrugged, “Sure we can. Do you want to?”

Minhyung blinked, slow and steady, “Can you repeat that again?”

“I said, ‘sure we can’. We can wipe them out. Every single one of them,” Jeno claimed, as if it wasn’t the most incredulous thing in the world, “Everyone in the business knows they’re bad news. I’ve done my research too. Jaemin would be glad to get rid of them.”

Minhyung felt his stomach drop, “Jaemin… is involved in mafia business?”

Jeno snorted, “Him? He wants to,” and boy does Jeno keep on dropping bombs on him, “Mostly ‘cause he thinks he can save ‘at least a few kids,’ he said. Get them out of the underworld before it corrupts them. You know how he is.”

Yes, Minhyung does know how Jaemin was. It was one of the traits he admired from the younger man. He truly tried his best to help. He never discriminated against who he helped either. It was one of the things that gave Minhyung a headache.

“How would you even help? The Mangjeol has over a hundred men. How would we even… I mean, in the first place, what connection does he have to the mafi—oh,” he said, as realization dawned on him, “Huang Renjun.”

Jeno nodded, grinning, “Of course you’d recognize him.”

“Gave me a small heart attack when I saw him talking with Jaemin in his office,” Minhyung said, remembering the fear he felt when he saw that the next generation head of the infamous Double Dragon Clan of China was near Jaemin, “I was about to plan his demise, honestly.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Minhyung shrugged and simply said, “Jaemin,” because it was an answer in itself, “After Huang Renjun left he suddenly started telling me what a good friend Renjun was and how lucky he was he’d met Renjun. He genuinely looked happy as he told me. How could I kill Renjun if he makes Jaemin smile like that?”

“Those were my exact same thoughts,” Jeno sympathized, but then he grinned and said, “See, hyung? We have Renjun on our side.”

“He’s Jaemin’s friend though, not mine. Why would he—you know what, never mind. Even if he does help, think about the repercussions this would cause. To others it would appear as if Double Dragon is waging war on the Mangjeol. It won’t go over well with anyone.”

“I didn’t say that Renjun would help as the head of the Double Dragon though,” the younger man said, “Renjun is scary enough on his own.”

“I can agree with that,” he replied, remembering how the young head had scrutinized him from head to toe, how absolutely piercing his gaze was, “But no matter how scary he could be, Huang Renjun is still not enough to eliminate an entire mafia family!”

Jeno nodded, agreeing, “You’re right. Of course it won’t be just Renjun.”

“There’s more?! Who—wait. Zhong Chenle. The son of Shanghai’s mob boss. He was with Renjun when he visited last time.”

“Jaemin met Chenle through Renjun,” the younger said, “Then he just… kind of stuck around. Mostly because Jaemin’s the only one crazy enough to go along with Chenle’s crazy ideas.”

Minhyung hasn’t had the chance to experience this himself, but he has heard of a few scary stories passed around the security department.

Speaking of crazy, Minhyung thought it was crazy at first but, “Jaemin’s secretary, too. Park Jisung.”

Jeno’s eyes brightened, “You’re really amazing, hyung! No one notices Jisung until it’s too late. What gave it away?”

“His movements,” Minhyung recalled, noticing how Jisung was always alert, always a hundred percent aware of his surroundings, always so in control of his body. 

“That’s actually how I noticed you too, hyung. You were just  _ too good. _ Normally trained guards don’t move like you do.”

Minhyung smiled ruefully, “Not good enough to get away from this though,” ruffling his hair in frustration, he said, “Thank you, for trying to stop me, but I’d rather die than see any of you hurt because of me. I’m not—,”

“Worth it?” Jeno finished, smiling gently, “You are, hyung. You’re worth all of that for us. Besides, we’ve got me, too,” the younger said, his smile now a cheeky grin, “I’m no slouch when it comes to assassinations and murder. I grew up with it. Got trained for it. Pretty good at it too.”

That made Minhyung pause.

What?!

“Jaemin’s step brother hired me from the Greater Lee House. He told me to be his ‘friend’ so that I can get close enough to kill him. That was seven years ago,” snickering, Jeno continued, “I did become his friend. But I just couldn’t kill him. Just like you. And so,” the younger said, looking at Minhyung sincerely, “Just as he saved me. I’ve come here to save you.”

Minhyung could only stare at Jeno, feeling a little short of breath.

Was it possible? Could he really be free from these chains?

Could he possibly stay with Jaemin?

“Will you let us save you, hyung?”

In the end, Lee Minhyung still had to die so that he could officially become Mark Lee.

They weren’t able to wipe out the entire Mangjeol family, that really was impossible, but anyone who knew of Minhyung was now gone.

He was free.

His freedom came at the price of experiencing the same headaches as Jeno, though. Because protecting Jaemin was actually as difficult as attempting to kill him.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Mark scolded a seemingly chastised Jaemin, “Jaemin ah, how many times do I have to remind you  _ not  _ to draw attention to yourself? I know it’s my job to protect you but how can I do that if you keep putting yourself in danger? I am begging you, Jaemin. Please, please,  _ please  _ think of saving yourself first. I know you want to save everyone, but if you get hurt, how could you expect to save anyone like that?”

When Jaemin pouted and mumbled, “You’re as bad as Jeno, hmph. Hyung is so  _ mean _ .”

Mark snorted, then he  _ nicely _ asked, “Na Jaemin,  _ sir _ , could you repeat that again, please?”

Now pouting at Mark, the CEO of one of the most prestigious companies in all of South Korea whined, “Mark Lee is  _ mean _ ! I want Jeno back!” 

Fortunately, all of this was happening at the safety of Jaemin’s own office with only a snickering Jisung as audience. When Jisung moved to pick up the phone, Jaemin yelled, “Jisung ah, wait! Forget I said that! No. Don’t call Jeno. I swear to god I’ll fire you if you call Jeno!”

They finally got Jeno to take a much needed vacation, after all, now that Mark was here to cover for him. But also, Jeno was fiercely protective. If he learned that Jaemin put himself in danger  _ again _ , Jaemin would never hear the end of it. He won’t get Jeno to take another vacation too, so calling Jeno should absolutely not be done.

Jisung smiled, all serene-like, except no one in the room believed it, “Okay, Jaemin,  _ sir _ . I’ll call Renjun hyung instead.”

Calling Renjun was actually much worse than calling Jeno. For Jaemin, that is. Because while Jeno was pretty lenient with Jaemin (i.e., whipped), Renjun was not. Renjun would actually ground Jaemin.

At Jaemin’s undignified squawk, followed by a mad scramble after his secretary, Mark groaned, feeling another headache coming.

Of all the times he’s imagined a life of freedom, he’s never actually imagined living a life filled with chaos. Everyday it felt like he was going to daycare, to take care of  _ children _ . He exhausted himself from the stress of keeping not only Jaemin, but all five of them, alive.

He also gained five other busybodies who keep watch over him, though.

So it was worth it. All of it was worth it.

“His name is Haechan,” Jaemin was now saying, trying to get Jisung to his side, “He looks happy working for my brother but that’s definitely a lie. How could anyone like working for a scumbag like him? We gotta save him, Jisung ah! But also, the brand I saw on him looked a lot like Jeno’s,” turning to Mark, Jaemin said, “I don’t know a lot about that kinda stuff ‘cause you and Jeno and everyone else keeps on keeping me in the dark,” the CEO pouted again, “But branding is bad, right? Right? So we gotta at least look into it, right, Mark hyung?”

Mark sighed.

He could never say no to Jaemin. But it didn’t mean he’d make it easy for him.

“Jaemin, there are actually a lot of posers—,”

“Hyung, please~!”

**Author's Note:**

> to kayden, thank you for the title!! and to the new friends in the nomin gc, thanks for helping me out!! <333


End file.
